Six from EUP advance to state wrestling finals

Sunday

Feb 17, 2013 at 8:39 PMFeb 17, 2013 at 8:42 PM

By PETER PIETRANGELOThe Evening News

ROGERS CITY — St. Ignace senior Richard Bentley is used to winning, so when he popped up immediately after pinning Hesperia junior David Jacobs in the 130-pound final, a small but not monumental upset, let out a roar and flexed his arms, you knew this one must have been special.

Bentley was one of three Saints wrestlers to win regional titles Saturday at Rogers City and one of five EUP wrestlers to advance to the state finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Bentley came into the match ranked sixth in the state against No. 5 Jacobs, and though he beat Jacobs at last year's regionals 10-0 in the first round, Jacobs had improved much with the powerhouse Hesperia program, coming into the match with a 47-6 record.

And after a quick takedown put Bentley in a 2-0 hole, the improvement was obvious.

"He got a lot better over the summer," said Bentley, who won his first regional title and advanced to states for the third time. "This was a really big win. I wanted to win this one badly."

After going down, Bentley went on the offensive, getting a 5-2 lead before pinning Jacobs 39 seconds into the second round.

"I got in a hole after that first takedown, but I eased into the match after that," said Bentley, who will play football at Division III Adrian next season. "I watched a couple of videos of him, and he's a real defensive wrestler. I had to capitalize on my offensive strength.

Joining Bentley at The Palace are teammates Galloway Thurston (171) and Joe Ostman (215), who each easily won their regionals, while Rudyard's Jimmy Spencer (112) and Shane Aney (160) advanced by finishing second and third, respectively.

Thurston, the defending champion and top-ranked 171-pounder in Division 4, pinned Charlevoix's Alex Brown in 46 seconds. He improved to 48-2 on the season and is the winningest wrestler in U.P. history with a 208-19 career record and will wrestle at Brown next year.

"This group of seniors, we've always pushed each other," Thurston said. "I'd love to win another (title), but I know I have a big target on my back."

Ostman, the two-time defending champion and top-ranked 215-pounder in Division 4, beat the third-ranked 215-pounder, Sanford Meridian's Eric Fader 12-0 — though he still tried until the final seconds to get a pin — to improve his season record to 50-0 and his career record to 197-12.

Ostman wrestled in the heavyweight division most of this season at around 235 pounds, but cut down to 215 once earlier in the season and again before districts. He had been the No. 1 285-pounder in Division 4.

"It was kind of my and my coaches' idea," Ostman said of the decision to wrestle this season at 285. "We didn't have a heavyweight, and I could wrestle up a division. I think it did help, because I'm so used to wrestling bigger guys."

Since Ostman and Thurston are two of the best wrestlers north of Lansing, they haven't been challenged much in the last three years. They have been partners in practice since they were freshmen, Thurston said, and coach Richard Bentley Sr. said they, along with his son Richard, have been instrumental in bringing along one of the best teams the Saints have ever had.

"They lead by good workouts and are willing to teach others," coach Bentley said. "They're willing to teach the team, all kind of like mini-coaches in practice. That's a good way to put it; they're good athlete-coaches."

Spencer, ranked fifth in Division 4, needed double overtime to beat Hart's Elijah Flores 8-7 to advance to the finals, where he was pinned by Sanford Meridian's Joe Shuler in 3:05 in an upset. In the semifinal, Spencer held off Flores from the top position in the first overtime and scored an escape in the second OT to win. He came back from 6-2 deficit in the third round to force overtime.

"During the match I kept thinking if I make this, I go to The Palace," said Spencer, who is 45-2. "In the first period (of OT), I just needed a good ride-out for 30 seconds. I went down and just had to keep moving in order to escape."

Like Ostman, Spencer, ranked wrestled up weight classes most of the year at 119 and 125 to fill in spots in the lineup and also to go against bigger competition.

"All year long, we looked for the best competition for him to be prepared for (finals)," Bulldogs coach Chad Smith said. "It definitely helped our team a lot. He's been to the Palace before, not just last year (when he placed seventh), but attended before that. He's not going to be in shock when he gets down there."

Aney scored with 23 seconds left in the consolation semifinal match against Hart's Marcous Moul to win 6-5, then beat Leroy Pine River's Justin Seeman 6-2 in the third-place match.

"It was the first time all match he actually shot in on a double," Smith said. "And lo and behold he was able to finish that."

Other EUP wrestlers had hard luck in the consolation semifinals. Newberry's Trenton Doughty (145) gave up a point in the third round to lose 3-2 to Sanford-Meridian's Jess Levier, Rudyard's Zeb Dahms (152) gave up four late points to Norway's Taylor Bonetti in a 6-5 loss, and Rudyard's Cory Gillett (285) was called for stalling with under 10 seconds left to lose 9-8 to Westwood's David Lancour.

DIVISION 2: Sault High junior Steven Kymes (140) was upset 7-6 by Holly's Jesse Torres in the first round, but he won the rest of his matches to place third at regional and advance to the state finals.

Kymes, ranked eighth in Division 2, beat No. 10 Kyle Reamer of Greenville 4-1 in the third-place match. He advanced with a 5-4 win over Bay City Western's Mickey Gosselin and an 8-4 win over Ortonville-Brandon's Trevor Bourdeau.